Ecuador: Decision on Snowden could take months

Ecuador's Foreign Mister Ricardo Patino speaks to reporters at a hotel during his visit to Vietnam Monday, June 24, 2013. Patino said that his government is analyzing an asylum request from Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor wanted for revealing classified secrets. (AP Photo/Tran Van Minh)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Ecuador’s foreign minister said Wednesday his government could take months to decide whether to grant asylum to fugitive U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino compared Snowden’s case to that of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

“It took us two months to make a decision in the case of Assange, so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time,” Patino told a news conference during a visit to Malaysia’s main city, Kuala Lumpur.

Asked if Ecuador would provide protection to Snowden while considering his request for asylum, Patino said through a translator that if Snowden “goes to the embassy, then we will make a decision.”

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Patino refused to say what criteria Ecuador would use to decide, but added that his government would “consider all these risks,” including concerns that it would hurt trade with the U.S. and his country’s economy.

Snowden, who is charged with violating American espionage laws, fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia. He registered for a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador, but he didn’t board the plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who acknowledged that Snowden is in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, has rejected U.S. pleas to turn him over.